Market News

Soybeans, corn pressured by South America

Soybeans were lower on commercial and technical selling. Harvest conditions in most of Brazil look good and transportation issues have started to clear up. The USDA could raise South American production estimates Thursday in the monthly supply and demand update. FC Stone Tuesday estimated Brazil’s crop at 109 million tons. Soybean meal and oil followed beans lower.

Corn was lower on commercial and technical selling. Corn’s also watching the generally favorable weather in South America. Unknown bought 120,000 tons of 2016/17 U.S. corn and domestic demand should stay strong, even if exports do dip in the coming months. Celeres now has Brazil’s corn crop at 97.7 million tons. Ethanol futures were lower ahead of weekly EIA production and stocks numbers.

The wheat complex was lower on profit taking and technical selling. The bearish supply side of the market should be reflected in the supply and demand report. Near term forecasts for the southwestern Plains remain dry. According to wire reports, Egypt rejected two cargoes of wheat from Russia and one cargo from Argentina, citing quality concerns at their respective ports of origin. Australia’s Bureau of Agriculture, Resource Economics, and Rural Sciences expects 2017/18 wheat production to be 23.98 million tons, down 32% from the 2016/17 record, as drier weather impacts yields.